The following description of the background of the invention is provided simply as an aid in understanding the invention and is not admitted to describe or constitute prior art to the invention.
Vitamin B2 (also known as riboflavin) is one of eight water-soluble B vitamins. It is the central component of the cofactors flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) and flavin mononucleotide (FMN), and is therefore required by all flavoproteins. As such, vitamin B2 is required for a wide variety of cellular processes. Like the other B vitamins, it plays a key role in energy metabolism, and is required for the metabolism of fats, ketone bodies, carbohydrates, and proteins. Vitamin B2 is also required for the health of the mucus membranes in the digestive tract and helps with the absorption of iron and Vitamin B6.
Riboflavin is continuously excreted in the urine of healthy individuals, making deficiency relatively common when dietary intake is insufficient. However, a deficiency of riboflavin may also be due to secondary causes, i.e., the result of conditions that affect absorption in the intestine, the body's inability to use vitamin B2, or an increase in the excretion of vitamin B2 from the body.
In humans, signs and symptoms of riboflavin deficiency (ariboflavinosis) include cracked and red lips, inflammation of the lining of mouth and tongue, mouth ulcers, cracks at the corners of the mouth (angular cheilitis), and sore throat. A deficiency may also cause dry and scaling skin, fluid in the mucous membranes, and iron-deficiency anemia. The eyes may also become bloodshot, itchy, watery and sensitive to bright light.
Riboflavin deficiency is classically associated with the oral-ocular-genital syndrome. Angular cheilitis, photophobia, and scrotal dermatitis are the classic remembered signs.
Methods have been reported for extracting vitamin B from food/drink samples or dietary supplements. See, e.g., Leporati, A., et al., Analytica Chimica Acta 2004, 531:87-95; Zougagh M, et al., Electrophoresis 2008, 29:3213-9; Chen, P., et al., Anal Bioanal Chem 2007, 387:2441-8; Aranda, et al., J. Chromatrogr. A 2006, 1131:253-60; Gentili, et al., Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. 2008, 22:2029-43; and Grant, D., et al., Anal Bioanal Chem 2008, 391:2811-2818. Additionally, various mass spectrometric techniques for measuring vitamin B2 in a sample have been reported. See, e.g., Leporati, A., et al., Analytica Chimica Acta 2004, 531:87-95; Guo, et al., J. Chromatographic Science 2006, 44:552-6; Midttun, Ø., et al., Clin. Chem. 2005, 51:1206-16; Chen, P., et al., Anal Bioanal Chem 2007, 387:2441-8; and Grant, D., et al., Anal Bioanal Chem 2008, 391:2811-2818.